New Delhi: The Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) election results have prompted Rahul Gandhi to seek a detailed report from Congress Organisation General Secretary K C Venugopal on the humiliating defeat of the party’s student wing, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI).
Yash Dabas won the president’s post, Riya Chhawdi was elected secretary and Aryan Maan won the joint secretary’s post. Independent candidate Deepanshu Shokeen won the vice-president’s post. The NSUI did not win any of the four central posts.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student organisation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), won three of the four central panel posts in the 2026 DUSU elections. The report came after his September 19 programme in Indore, where he addressed students under the Congress campaign ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’. The presidential contest was closely fought, with ABVP’s Dabas securing 24,576 votes against NSUI candidate Vijay Shankar Meena’s 22,523 votes. Independent candidate Shokeen won the vice-president’s post with 30,615 votes, while ABVP’s Ishu Maurya received 16,910 votes and NSUI candidate Vir Chatrath got 4,313 votes.
Gandhi have asked Venugopal to prepare a detailed assessment of NSUI’s performance, including the reasons for the defeat and candidate selection, according to reports.
He had earlier sought an NSUI ticket and later contested as an independent.
After entering the contest as an independent, he went on to win the vice-president’s post without the backing of a student organisation. The result has also raised questions over the selection of NSUI candidates within the Congress student organisation. Shokeen had wanted to contest for vice-president, while the organisation had considered him for another position. He eventually entered the election as an independent after the ticket dispute. These reports have made candidate selection one of the issues expected to feature in the review sought by the Congress leadership.
Because he had earlier sought an NSUI ticket, shokeen’s victory has become one of the biggest talking points from this year’s election. His victory brought an independent candidate back to the DUSU central panel after 17 years.
